'Head scarf was ancient sex symbol'
Turkey: Historian acquitted of charges of inciting religious hatred
Acquitted: Muazzez Ilmiye Cig
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"My trial acted as a tool to display the strength of the secular tradition in Turkey against the fundamentalists. This will encourage people like me to think more, act more courageously and voice their opposition more openly", said Muazzez Ilmiye Cig, 92-year-old Turkish historian, after a court in Istanbul cleared her on 1st November after half an hour hearing of charges of inciting religious hatred.
Ms. Cig, a reputed specialist in Sumerian culture and history, had been accused for stating that the Islamic-style head scarf had been a sex symbol in pre-Islamic times. 5,000 years ago, she asserted in a scientific paper, a head scarf had been the identification sign of the temple priestess who had ritual sex with young men to celebrate fertility. Therefore it was not very suitable to indicate a woman's morality today, she concluded. This presentation provoked Yusuf Akin, a fanatic Islamic lawyer, to file a case against her and her Publisher Ismet Ogutcu. If convicted, the two could have faced jail terms up to 18 months.
Muazzez Ilmiye Cig is a strong secularist in the tradition of Mustafa Kamal Ataturk, the founder of the Turkish Republic, and has made public statements against wearing head scarves earlier. In Turkey, head scarves are banned in schools, universities and all state offices. Because of her head scarf, prime minister Erdogan's wife Ermine is excluded from state functions. Ms Cig has publicly criticized her for setting a bad example and misrepresenting the modern Turkish woman.
Since 2002, when the present government under prime minister Tayyip Erdogan came to power, secularists are alarmed about the rising Islamic influence. Erdogan, a devout Muslim, promised to lift the head scarf ban, but failed because of stiff resistance from the secular forces that are ruling the military and other institutions. He promoted religious schools and filled senior administrative positions with Islamists. It is expected that he will try to get elected as the next president in May. The secular forces want to stop him. On 4th November, a protest demonstration of 12000 marched with the slogan "Turkey is secular and will remain secular!" through the capital Ankara and ended in front of the Anitkabir, the mausoleum of Ataturk.